Friday Five

1. I wrote a post on Friday after all. I had a few hours between normal work hours and attending a Relay For Life event tonight. Since my job is help people plan and execute this overnight event, I'm glad I have the opportunity to be a part of one first. It should help me do my job.
   
   
2. Gas stations in this are have started stocking caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper, and it makes me happy. I spend a lot of time on the road for this job, and I like to drink something other than water. Especially if I've driving home at night, drinking a caffeine-free drink is like tricking my body
   
   
3. I'm getting closer to watching all the movies nominated for top awards at the Oscars (picture, actor, actress, foreign film, documentary, screenplay). Once I see Frost/Nixon and Frozen River, I will have seen all the best picture and best actor/actress and screenplay nominated films. Yay! I'm not doing so great with foreign films and documentaries; they need to come out on DVD.
   
   
4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Watch Instantly feature on Netflix. I just watched the Visitor, starring Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins. Somehow Netflix manages to stream a two-hour movie at high quality with no interruptions, and yet, every time I try to watch an ABC show online, it stalls my entire Internet connection. If you aren't taking advantage of this feature, do it now. I've heard the studios want to renegotiated the available this feature. There are some really great films available to watch this way, including popular movies like Made of Honor and Enchanted, and entire seasons of TV shows (all three seasons of the Office!)
   
   
5. "What is this, Horseville? Cause I'm surrounded by naysayers! Word play!" and “What those people were doing to the Superdome." or "One word: coffee. One problem: where do you get it?' ' Anywhere!You get it anywhere!"
   
   If you don't know where those quotes came from, it's because you still aren't watching the funniest show on TV. Haven't we discussed this? (By the way, you can also watch 30 Rock instantly on Netflix. What are you waiting for?)
   

Friday Update

No Friday Five this week. I've worked every night this week, so I didn't have time to write my weekly feature. I will try to get something up before the weekend is over.

Friday Five

1. Quote of the Week: "Traveling changes you but slowly, minutely. It's not one big mind altering event but a polishing of the edges of your personality. So of course I'm different. I can already see many of the changes. But many of these were incremental changes I never even noticed - and still haven't." - Matt Kepnes
   
   
2. Commentary of the Week: My friend Janie's take on the heroine of the movie Happy-Go-Lucky. In case you forgot (or don't know) Janie started the Happy List tradition that I still carry on. This movie has been on my to-watch list since I heard about it, and I'm glad I watched it before I read Janie's thoughts. I totally agree with her, too!
   
   
3. Movie Trailer of the Week: So far John Krasinski hasn't had a great movie career, but this movie has potential. Plus it co-stars Maya Rudolph. And Maggie Gyllenhaal! And Allison Janney! And Catharine O'Hara! It's also written by Dave Eggers and his wife, so it should be funny.
   
   
   
   'Away We Go' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video
   
   
4. Life Event of the Week: I turned 30! I had a group of friends over for lunch on Saturday, and it was a blast. I enjoyed having people from different stages of my life present: family, high school friends, college friends, "real-world" friends, and a few tag-a-longs. And keeping with tradition, I had cookie cake. Not just one, but two! I will never outgrow cookie cake.
   
   
5. Happy things of the week:
   
   • exercising for two weeks without foot issues (including some running!)
   • listening to Rick Steves' podcasts while exercising on the treadmill
   • patches of bluebonnets throughout the city, not just on the side of the highway
   • playing Taboo
   • Stephen Colbert told the the South Carolina governor he was extremely boring
   • "Beautiful World," duet by Dierks Bentley and Patty Griffin
   • taking a walk along the lake on a sunny afternoon
     

My Next 30 Years

Today is the last day of my 20s. Tomorrow I turn the BIG 3-0. In honor of this milestone, I've made a list of things I want to accomplish or experience in my next 30 years.

1. Visit every country in Europe
2. Travel to six of seven continents (I don't really care about Antarctica)
3. Run a marathon
4. Learn conversational Spanish
5. Go scuba diving
6. Find the perfect job
7. Keep up my Happy List
8. Get married and have children
9. Give more money to charity
10. Turn passion into action
    
11. Get out of debt and stay that way
12. Attend all 4 Grand Slam tennis championships (one down, three to go)
    
13. Attend a taping of the Daily Show
    
14. Attend a taping of the Colbert Report
15. Buy a car I love
16. Get fit and stay that way
17. See U2 in concert
18. Meet Emmitt Smith
19. Go to the Oscars or the Super Bowl
20. Start a new tradition
21. Bring someone to Christ
22. Take hobby classes (photography, cooking, dancing, etc.)
23. Find a new hobby
24. Help someone on the side of the road like I've been helped
25. Send a kid to summer camp
26. Bake a pie for the family that will be passed down to future generations
27. Read every Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction novel
    
28. See an opera at the Met
    
29. Never say no out of fear
30. Always be myself
    

"I think I'll take a moment to celebrate my age, the ending of an era and the turning of a page. Now it's time to focus on where I'll go from here. Lord have mercy on my next 30 years." - Tim McGraw song